Reading Time: 1minute With the Patriot Act debate raging in Congress, there has perhaps never been a better time to consider what’s at stake. And what is that? Most of us never really knew. But this documentary, from Executive Producer Robert Greenwald and Earl Katz, directed by Nonny de la Peña, whose work has been funded by a MacArthur grant and shown at TriBeCa Film Festival, spelled it all out a decade ago, and is as relevant as ever.

Reading Time: 8minutes If, as his supporters contend, Obama is a good, caring man whose instincts are right, why has he not taken any of these modest steps to rein in surveillance excesses? A checklist of options.

Reading Time: 2minutes Why is torching a police kiosk an admirable thing in Syria but cause for consternation in the United States? Why is protest against corrupt central power in one country a good thing—and something to be dismissed in another? WhoWhatWhy asks….WhyWhyWhy

Reading Time: 13minutes The reelection of Barack Obama will ensure 16 full years of George W. Bush’s national security policies, adding more noxious infringements on American civil liberties by the year.

Reading Time: 5minutes The Obama Administration is not being completely straight with us when it comes to the Occupy protests. A growing body of documentation suggests that the Department of Homeland Security is deeply involved in coordinating surveillance of protesters—and maybe more.

Reading Time: 3minutes DC news veteran Sam Smith on today compared to his previous 58 years reporting: Most conservative Dem President; most radical and irrational GOP; most political nastiness; most apathetic youth. And more…